1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rifle rests, and more particularly, to an adjustable rifle rest for use in target shooting and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With respect to the prior art, the best known rifle rest is simply a bag of sand. The sand bag is placed on a table or on the ground, and a rifle is placed thereon. A rifle placed on a sand bag will normally contact the sand bag over a very limited portion of the rifle, but may contact the rifle over a variable area, depending on the orientation of the rifle on the sand bag. However, the rifle will be only disposed on the sand bag, and will not be in any way cradled by the sand bag. The result of this is that the rifle must be shouldered by the user of the rifle. That is, the rifle only rests on the sand bag and the individual user of the rifle must hold the rifle tightly against his shoulder. This can be accomplished only by pulling the rifle to his shoulder since there will be no resistance on the sand bag to the movement of the rifle thereon away from the user as the user leans against the rifle.
There are other numerous designs of rifle rests in the prior art, all of which are limited in the same way that the sand bag is, in that they present no resistance to the movement of the rifle. Most of the rifle rests of the prior art support the rifle only over a very limited portion of the rifle. In this manner, the rifle rests of the prior art generally provide dual functions: they provide support for the rifle and they act as a fulcrum or pivot for movement of the rifle. Again, they all have substantially severe limitations in that they require the user to pull the rifle, supported on the rests, to the user's shoulder.
Since prior art rifle rests generally provide only vertical support for a rifle over a small area of the rifle, they are not of much help in the actual aiming of the rifle. That is, the user of the rifle and the rest must move the rifle up and down, as well as sideways, in order to fire the rifle. The rifle pivots on the rifle rest or support and it will not maintain a fixed orientation thereon because the rifle is not supported over a substantial length.
Because the prior art rifle rests do not support the rifles over a substantial portion or length of the rifle, the rifles must be physically pulled toward the shoulder of the user of the rifle and the rest. This is necessary in order for the rifle to maintain its position or orientation on the support. A preferable situation is where the user of the rifle and support can "lean into" the rifle, with the rest providing substantial support for the rifle and also providing resistance to the forward movement of the rifle. In such a situation, there is sufficient friction between the rifle, the rest, and the table or platform on which the rest is disposed, to allow the user of the rifle and the rest to orient himself with respect to the rifle in a manner most comfortable and most convenient to the firing of the rifle. This is in contrast to the situation in which the typical prior art rifle rest provides only vertical support for the rifle over a limited length of the rifle so as to allow the rifle to pivot on the rest and to accordingly provide no stability for the rifle other than vertical support over a very limited area or portion of the rifle, and the user must provide the stability for the orientation of the rifle by pulling the rifle to him. Obviously, where the rifle rest is providing adequate support for the rifle, and the user may be oriented or situated in the most comfortable manner, the accuracy of the firings of the rifle will be greatly enhanced.